This invention relates to a signal transmission media routing arrangement for use with a housing holding a media connector field.
Where telephone wires enter a building, there is usually provided a building entrance protector (BEP) box. The incoming wires, which are typically contained within one or more multi-wire cables, enter a splice chamber in the box, where they are connected to short wires which go to a protector field within the BEP box providing protection against lightning, high voltage and high current, and then connections are made to an output wire connector field. At the connector field, connections are made to wires which extend through the building to output jacks at various locations in the building. The wires leaving the connector field are formed into bundles which are routed out of the box and through the building.
Typically, each BEP box is mounted on a substantially vertical surface. However, a single BEP box can only handle a limited number of wires. In a large building, it may be necessary to have several BEP boxes. In such case, the boxes are usually stacked vertically on the mounting surface and the bundle of wires leaving each box is routed through all of the boxes beneath it. Therefore, if three or four boxes are stacked, by the time the bundle of wires leaves the lowest box, the bundle is large and tightly packed. In the event there is a problem with a wire, it is very difficult for a technician to trace the wire through its bundle back to its originating BEP box. If that wire has to be replaced, this is also very difficult. Accordingly, there is a need for a wire routing arrangement in conjunction with a BEP box to give the installer flexibility in the routing of wire bundles so that the size of the bundles can be maintained at a manageable level. There is also a need for a wire routing arrangement which allows the installer to selectively change an individual wire in a bundle. There also exists a need for a wire routing arrangement which allows the installer to change the direction of routing of a wire bundle without disconnecting all of the wires from the connector field.
Where fiber optic cables enter a building, a building entrance box is provided within which the cables are spliced to individual fibers which lead to one side of a connector field. From the other side of the connector field, other individual fibers are formed into bundles which are routed throughout the building, in the same manner as the aforedescribed wires. Accordingly, the same needs exist for a routing arrangement for optical fibers as were described above for wires.
Wires and optical fibers are both filamentary signal transmission elements. They therefore share a number of common attributes--for example, individual elements can be bundled into cables for routing throughout a building. Accordingly, it would be economically advantageous to provide routing arrangements for both wires and optical fibers (as well as other filamentary elements) which utilize as many common components as possible.